Like you, I am absolutely outraged at President Barack Obama’s “my way or no way” approach to the serious issues facing our nation.
From unilaterally picking and choosing which parts of Obamacare to enforce, to enacting sweeping illegal amnesty policies, the President has continually overstepped his legal authority by enacting unconstitutional “phone and pen” policies. These policies are neither ones that our community wants nor what our country needs to get back on track.
U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson
This Week in Washington
As you know, last November the president took unprecedented executive action to grant amnesty to more than 5 million illegal immigrants. Ever since then, I have been working with my colleagues in Congress to find the best tactic to successfully block the President’s illegal actions. With the new Republican majority in the Senate and the biggest Republican majority in the House since the 1920s, we have a tremendous opportunity ahead of us – an opportunity to actually pass meaningful legislation by both chambers working together, the way things were intended to operate.
But more than that, we have an opportunity to send the president legislation that advances your priorities. Now, with the Republican-controlled Congress, it’s time to continue the fight, see this through and block the president’s illegal amnesty. That’s why I led my like-minded conservative colleagues in drafting a letter to House Leadership demanding that we stand firm in our efforts to oppose the president’s executive action and restrict funding for its implementation as soon as possible. Leadership promised that the House would stand its ground against the president’s unconstitutional actions in January, and I am committed to holding them accountable on this promise. I am hopeful we will take immediate action and use our constitutionally given power of the purse to eliminate all funding for the President’s illegal executive amnesty.
As I’ve said before, I recognize our immigration system is broken and needs to be fixed and this starts with securing the border. The president’s “go it alone” actions make things worse by rewarding those who come here illegally at the expense of legal immigrants waiting in line. The president’s actions also threaten American jobs by giving work permits to illegals who don’t have Obamacare costs associated with them. Finally, the president’s actions make it harder to deport convicted child predators by reclassifying them and downgrading their priority for deportation.
But the crisis threatening the future of our nation isn’t simply about immigration; it is about defending the separation of powers and the rule of law. The bottom line is the president’s actions are unconstitutional. As established by our founding fathers in the Constitution, only Congress has the power to establish the rule of naturalization, make, or change the laws. Therefore it is incumbent on us to honor the Constitution, and respect the will of the people, by using the power of the purse to rein in the president’s actions.
I made a promise that I would fight to block the president’s unconstitutional actions and will continue to do everything I can to ensure that we have a strong bill that does just that. It’s time to continue the fight and send Obama legislation that forces him to make a choice: does he stand with the American people, or does he continue to push his unconstitutional executive amnesty that punishes legal immigrants and Americans looking for work?
I ran for Congress because I want to fight to make our priorities Washington’s priorities and pursue a conservative agenda that reins in President Obama’s harmful policies, promotes job creation and truly changes the direction of our country. Rest assured, I will continue to stand up for our community when President Obama stands in the way of our priorities.
Richard Hudson, a Republican, represents the 8th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. The district includes a small part of Mecklenburg County and takes in all or parts of the counties of Cabarrus, Union, Randolph, Rowan, Davidson, Stanly, Anson, Montgomery, Richmond, Scotland and Robeson.
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